


We Did Make a Good Team

by the_nerdiestwitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, au kinda, but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-08-18 19:10:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8172706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_nerdiestwitch/pseuds/the_nerdiestwitch
Summary: The Castle of Lions falls, but Zendak has other plans for the paladins inside





	1. Invasion

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first official fic, so please leave any suggestions/comments you have! This is an alternate ending to The Fall of the Castle of Lions/Tears of the Balmera, with a few other tweaks scattered around. Hope you enjoy it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An AU where the Galra decide to do something else with Lance after the fall of the Castle of Lions

“Thanks, Coran.” Lance stood as the hologram of earth faded and light returned to the control deck. Coran offered the blue paladin a smile, and they turned to head back to the party. The ache for home was still settled in his chest, but for now at least it was dulled. Lance felt happy. Well, happ _ier_. That was probably why he hadn’t even noticed Rover coming in as he and Allura’s advisor headed out. Something wasn’t right though. Lance turned back to get a better look at the rover.

“Wait...where’s Pidge?” He asked, half to himself. The droid never went anywhere without him. Coran’s footsteps slowed just as the small, metal pyramid began to flash bright red. It took only a second for Lance to figure out what that meant. “Coran, look out!” He shouted, diving towards the Altean.

 

A searing hot pain followed Lance, and he felt himself tumbling over. Something pierced his side, and a new kind of burning filled his chest. The rumbling stopped, and darkness overtook him.

 

Voices shouted, but they sounded very far away. All Lance was aware of was a searing pain in his chest, the rest of his body a dull ache.

 

“Lance!” Someone called out his name. Allura. It was nice to know she cared. Someone lifted him, and Lance couldn’t help but groan in pain. Someone else was shouting at him now. Why were they shouting? He just wanted to sleep. Another, younger voice chimed in. _Pidge_. He sounded desperate, the worry carrying his voice an octave higher than it usually was.

 

“...doesn’t look good.” It was the first voice again, but softer. _Shiro_ , Lance vaguely recognized it. He shouldn’t sound so worried. If Lance could just sleep, it would be fine. But more people were shouting now; a gravelly voice, Pidge, Coran...Coran! Lance groaned again. He needed to make sure Coran was alright, but his limbs wouldn’t respond. Shiro was speaking again, softer than ever. “...not going to last more than a few hours.” Footsteps ran off in every direction, leaving Lance alone with the older Paladin. Although Shiro tried to be gentle, every movement caused the pain in Lance’s chest to flare, and he groaned loudly. “Hang on Lance; help is on the way.” Even Shiro’s voice sounded distant now, and the gentle rocking motion of being carried finally lulled Lance into a dreamless sleep.

  


\----------

Worry was the only thing on Shiro’s mind. The wide open gates made him nervous; alien guests going in and out as they pleased. They could be attacked at any second. And Pidge was leaving; how would they form Voltron? What if Pidge got hurt, or worse? The boy was only 14, for God’s sake. Allura’s voice broke through his thoughts. “I don’t know what we’ll do without him. We won’t be able to form Voltron, and without the Green Lion we’re down a fifth of our fighting force.”

 

“We can’t change his mind, Allura. If he want’s to go, we have to let him.”

 

“We don’t, actually.” Keith’s voice inturuppted. “We could stop him, make him see reason.”

 

“Keith, you can’t force something like this. Pidge cares about his family; we’re not going to change his mind.”

 

“I care about my family too!” Hunk crossed his big arms, a mixture of worry and longing on his face. “So does Lance! We all want to go home.”

 

“Don’t you get it?” Keith snarled, jabbing a finger into the Yellow Paladin’s chest. “If you leave, there won’t be a home to go back to. If we can’t form Voltron, we won’t be able to save anyone.”

“Keith…” Shiro stepped towards the teen, about break up the fight, when the castle began to rumble. Guests ran screaming out of the castle, back towards their village. Bits of rock and dust fell from the ceiling onto the group. A second later, a hot wind rushed through the halls and the lights dimmed. The hum of the castle was gone.

Shiro led the team through the darkened halls of the castle, praying that it was just a malfunction. As they got closer, they could see scorch marks and rubble in the dim light of the moon. The Black Paladin was the first to spot Coran, and he and Hunk helped the Altean sit up.

“What happened?” Shiro demanded, already scanning him for injuries. Coran seemed bruised and singed, but alright.

“I...I’m not sure.” Coran frowned, trying to focus. He looked up, towards the control room. As the smoke cleared, Shiro’s heart sank. The entire crystal was destroyed. Chunks of it lay scattered around the room along with bits of the device that had held it in place.

“The crystal!” Allura cried softly, rushing into the room, followed closely by the rest of the team. Hunk had one of Coran’s arms draped over his broad shoulders for support, but both their expressions matched Shiro’s; one of worry. As Shiro assessed the room, his eyes fell on an even more distressing image.

“Lance!” The princess’ voice cracked ever so slightly. Shiro rushed forward toward the Paladin. He was still; too still. Dark stains had begun to spread across his flight suit, pooling underneath him. The Black Paladin knelt next to Lance, gently lifting him up. Burns and cuts crisscrossed the younger man’s face.

 

“Lance, come on! Lance!” Shiro tried not to shout, but the panic was getting to him. All he got was a groan in response.

 

“He have to get him to the infirmary!” Pidge’s voice called from behind him. All of a sudden, he sounded far too young.

 

“Even if we did, without the crystal we have no power.” Allura was already running through plans in her head. “It’s useless.” The tremble in her voice seemed to say something else. ‘ _You’re useless_.’ Shiro shook the thought from his mind and reexamined Lance. The paladin’s chest rattled with every breath; a wet, sick, shaking sound. “He doesn’t look good.” Shiro muttered, almost to himself. It didn’t take a doctor to see that Lance was hurt, badly.

 

Another, unfamiliar voice shouted behind Shiro and this time he turned to look. It was the Alrusian king, yelling about an attack. Keith, a hot head as always, sprang into action. Of course the Galra were attacking; without the castle, there would be no one to protect the planet. Allura’s voice confirmed what Shiro already knew; the lions were stuck in their bays. The castle was completely defenceless.

 

It seemed impossible. After everything Shiro had seen it do, all it took was an explosion to expose them. For once, there was no back up plan. No way to fight back.

 

Coran stepped forward shakily, but his voice was firm. “We have to get a new crystal to get the castle working again.”

 

“We can use the pod I was loading! The bay door is still open!” Great; another breach in their defences. Shiro watched as the two of them plus Hunk rushed off. “Hurry! He’s not going to last for more than a few hours.” The Black Paladin called after them. The words tasted strange in his mouth. Lance, always quick with a joke, always full of energy and life, was dying.

 

Kieth and Allura didn’t take long to form a battle plan. Shiro nodded his approval. “Go. I’ll tend to Lance and keep watch over the castle.” The two nodded back and ran off without another word, leaving Shiro along with the young Paladin. Another wet rattle made its way through Lance, tinging his lips with red. As carefully as he could, Shiro lifted him across his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Lance groaned, louder this time, and Shiro mentally cursed himself to be more careful.

 

Not sure what else he could do, the Black Paladin made his was back to the main entrance. If there was going to be an attack, they’d probably hit there first. Sweat beaded his forehead. Somehow, Lance was a lot heavier than he looked. A small moan escaped from behind him. “Hang on, Lance. Help is on the way.” That was the most Shiro could do; hope.

As Shiro neared the wide open gates, his eyes widened. Burning hate filled his mind and he spat out just one word. “Zendak.” Years of torture came rushing back to him, every bit of it led by the Galra in front of him. Without realizing it, Shiro’s grip tightened on Lance. As quickly as he could, he laid the young Paladin on a bench. Had Lance always been that pale?  Spots of red seemed to be everywhere; staining the young boy’s suit and dripping from where Shiro had carried him. But there wasn’t anything he could do about that now, except keep the castle safe. Shiro lit up his hand- his Galra hand- and prepared himself for the fight.

 

It didn’t last long. Zendak’s new arm had a huge advantage over Shiro’s own and before he knew it, he and the Galra were caught in a stalemate. Hate was the only thing on Shiro’s mind, until a new voice spoke behind him.

 

“Let him go, or your friend...let’s just say he won’t survive much longer.” Shiro whipped around. Lance’s limp body thudded to the floor, seemingly more bruised than it had been just a few minutes ago. His eyes flickered up to the new enemy. This Galra was thinner, with a cold, calculating face. Next to him, a sentry pointed a gun at Lance’s head. A debate flew through Shiro’s mind, cut short by a blow to the head. He flew across the room, rolling to a stop next to Lance. Up close, he looked even worse. Red stained the inside of his mouth, and a fresh cut had opened up over his eye from being thrown to the floor. Slowly, Shiro got to his knees. “I surrender.” He heard himself say. The new Galra nodded, and he looked up across the room. Too late, Shiro realized what he was looking at. A sharp blow crashed into the back of his head, and then everything went black.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update- I was totally swamped by school and work. I'll update it soon though!

Shiro came to surrounded by purple light. A spitting headache made him wince, but he managed to get to his knees and take a look around. His first concern was Lance; the blue paladin lay next to him, incredibly pale. The blood on his flightsuit had dried to a hard reddish brown, but a small puddle was slowly and steadily pooling under him. Nothing he could do about that now, not while he was handcuffed. Breifly, Shiro strained against the metal holding his wrists. His metal arm didn’t glow pink like it normally did- they must’ve found a way to disable it. He certainly wasn’t strong enough to break out on his own and even if he did, what could he do? Face Zendak and get beaten even more than last time? That wouldn’t help anybody. 

Voices floated over from the command center, and Shiro stopped struggling to listen. If the Galra had noticed he was awake, they didn’t care. He recognized Zendak’s voice, but the other took him a few moments to place. It was Zarkon, leader of the Galra. “I’ve captured the Altean Castle and the Voltron Lions.” Zendak spoke in a proud, rough voice. “I’m currently preparing for launch. They’ll be delivered to you shortly.”  
“This news is most pleasing.” The emperor purred. His smug tone made Shiro sick. “You have done your duty.”  
“There’s more. Along with the lions, I was able to capture two Paladins. The Black one is detained for now, but the Blue one looks like he was caught in the explosion. Shall I put an end to him?”  
“No.” A moment of silence stretched on as, presumably, the Emperor pondered his choices. “Put him in one of the Altean cryo-pods. He could be useful to Haggar and the mages.”  
A battle of emotions flashed through Shiro’s mind. The cryo-pods would keep Lance from getting any worse, but Shiro knew all too well what the mages were capable of. He couldn’t stand the thought of what they could do to him. Before the black Paladin could do anything to protest, a sentry was lifting Lance over its shoulder and headed off towards the infirmary. Shiro could only watch and pray that it wasn’t the last time he saw him.

\----------

For a long time, all Lance knew was pain. Sometimes a dull ache, sometimes a stabbing throb. He could hear voices, one harsh and one cold, but they were too faint to make out what they were saying. Someone picked him up, but it wasn’t Shiro. This person was too rough, too cold. Lance wanted to ask them to just put him down, let him rest, but he was too tired to even to that. After what seemed like an eternity, they stopped. He felt himself being shoved into something- a cryo-pod? And then he was surrounded by darkness and a comforting cold.

\----------

“Shiro, wake up! It’s me, Pidge!” Dazed, the black Paladin squinted up at the figure in front of him. A second later he was jerked out of his confusion as the boy was seized by Zendak.   
“Pidge!” Behind the monstrous Galra, Allura and Keith rushed into the control room, coming to a stop at the sight of Pidge struggling in Zendak’s grasp.  
“Drop your weapons, or the Paladin dies.”   
Thinking fast, Shiro staggered to his feet and charged the Galra. He slammed into Zendak with all the force he could muster, head first. Zendak staggered, dropping Pidge, and whirled to retaliate. Allura and Keith sprang into action and within minutes the Galra was imprisoned behind a glass tube next to the crystal he’d used to replace the castle’s. Pidge was at Shiro’s back the moment the battle ended, unlocking his restraints. Shiro turned around, smiling gratefully. “Thanks, Pidge.” The brown haired boy nodded and gave him a smile.   
The small moment of victory was quickly ended by Keith’s worried voice. “Shiro, where’s Lance?”  
Shiro’s mind whirled through the last few hours as he tried to remember. “The cryo-pods,” he heard himself say. “He’s in the cryo-pods.” Keith’s face paled in the corner of Shiro’s eye.  
“That’s good though, isn’t it?” Pidge turned to Allura as Shiro stood shakily beside him.   
Allura was already shaking her head. “I don’t like it. The Galra wouldn’t have put Lance in a pod just to heal him.”  
“So let’s get him out then!” Keith almost shouted.  
Now it was Shiro’s turn to shake his head. “He was already pretty bad when he was put in. Who knows when Hunk and Coran will get back with the crystal? If we take Lance out now, he might not last that long.”  
“We can’t just sit around and do nothing!” Keith cried.  
“We don’t have a choice.” Allura’s voice was shaky but firm. “I hate to do leave him there, but we can at least use the Galra crystal to monitor Lance until Hunk and Coran return.”  
The red paladin scowled. “This is bullshit!” Throwing his hands up, he stormed out of the room. The rest of the small group glanced worriedly at each other and wordlessly headed towards the infirmary.


End file.
